Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1912
“And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err in it.” Isaiah 35:8.
TWICE has Israel come back from captivity—once when the tribes came out of Egypt and the Lord led them through the wilderness—and again when they returned from banishment in Babylon and the Lord restored them to their land. A third return some of us believe still awaits the chosen people. In the day when the Grace of God shall change the heart of Israel, the seed of Abraham shall again return into the land which God gave to their fathers by a Covenant of Salt. I think our text looks forward to a future age when the reproach shall be rolled away from Palestine and her deserts shall be made to blossom as the rose. Of these future glories we say but little, for little is known by the most of us. The prophecy is, however, sufficiently clear to make us expect that the Lord will make a way for the return of His ancient people and will restore unto them the joy of His salvation. I forbear all theories of prophecy just now, for I feel it more than ever necessary in this evil time to keep close to the simplicities of the Gospel, following for the present distress, the beaten road of the first principles of the faith. I shall not use the telescope to look into the starry future, but rather the chart and compass with which to direct our present way. I shall regard the text as having received one fulfillment in the way of salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. If this is not the literal fulfillment of the prophecy, yet certainly it is its spiritual fulfillment and, for the moment, this is the most vital matter to us. As the Savior spoke at Nazareth, so say I now, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” Hear it, and discern its Divine teaching.
As the Holy Spirit shall help me, I shall speak at this time upon the way to the heavenly Zion and our duty with regard to that way.
I. First, then, THE WAY to the heavenly Zion, to the dwelling place of God. Zion of old was the place of the one altar of sacrifice and the one Mercy Seat where the Lord, in manifest Glory, communed with His Covenant people. There the tribes went up to offer their national prayer and praise to Jehovah, the God of Israel. Pilgrimage to the holy place was an important part of Israel’s religious life. During the invasions of the land and especially during the captivity, the solemn festivals were neglected and there seemed to be no way up to the house of God. Then godly men sighed for the tabernacles of God, saying, “When shall I come and appear before God?” As they could not go there in body, they sent their hearts and their eyes in that direction, as, like Daniel, they prayed with their windows open towards Jerusalem. How much they longed for a highway by which they could march to Zion! We, my Brothers and Sisters, speak of another Jerusalem which is above and of the Throne of God, the Most High, to which we are wending our way. Our desire is for the city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God. Who will bring us there? Who will point out the road?
It is with great joy that we learn from Holy Scripture the great Truth set forth in the text, that there is a way to God and Heaven. “And an highway shall be there, and a way.” This way from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City is still open and still traversed by companies of pilgrims!
It is noteworthy that this road is one, an highway and a way—not two highways, nor two ways. Many roads lead to ruin, but only one to salvation! So many men, so many minds—but if we are men of God, all our minds are one as to the one way which leads to God. We trust in the same Savior and are quickened by the same Spirit and, as a consequence, our experience has a vital unity in it. Years ago, at the University of Utrecht, several Christian students met together from various nations and, on one occasion, it was agreed that four persons, representing Europe, Asia, Africa and America,
should describe the work of Grace upon their hearts. The earnest Brother from New England, the friend from the Cape of Good Hope and the missionary student from India, all found that their stories agreed with that of a young nobleman of Holland. Scenes and circumstances widely differed, but the joys and sorrows, the struggles and the victories of each were the same—and one hope filled every heart! It was a delightful occasion and left upon the minds of those present a very vivid impression of the unity of the Divine way, Truth and Life, as these are seen in Believers.
We differ in the pace with which we traverse the way, but the way, itself, is one. Today, if Believers in this audience were to rise, one by one, although we are a singularly mixed assembly, our religious testimony would be one—in each case Christ would be All and in all! John Newton tells us of a meeting which he had with one Occam, an Indian preacher, who could not have borrowed his story from books, but yet, when Newton and he compared notes concerning sin and the Savior, they were the counterparts of each other! There is but one right way. Let us not be deceived about it—there are no two roads to Heaven! If any tell you that there are two gospels, you may remind them of Paul’s words—“Another gospel, which is not another; but there are some that trouble you and would pervert the Gospel of Christ.”